


The end of a era

by Angeleyes1314



Category: Batman (Comics), Nightwing (Comics), Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics), Teen Titans (Comics)
Genre: Batfamily Feels, Brotherly Bonding, Dick Grayson Needs a Hug, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Flashbacks, Hurt/Comfort, batfamily
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-17
Updated: 2017-01-17
Packaged: 2018-09-18 03:51:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,644
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9366800
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Angeleyes1314/pseuds/Angeleyes1314
Summary: Dick Grayson has always had two homes. Two Families he called his own. Now one of those homes is being taken from him as the circus he called a family is closing and his younger brothers will stop at nothing to be there to help him through it.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I had no one proof read this and honestly typed it up on my phone as I waited on the bus since it was a spur of the moment story idea.

Dick Grayson grew up in the circus, the circus was his whole life and family before Bruce Wayne. Even now he felt a special connection to the circus and still considered it his second family next to his Adoptive Father and 3 younger Brothers. He loved his adoptive family but he also loved the circus.  
As he stood in the alleyway in his Nightwing costume, looking at a ripped up Haly's Circus poster with the bright red letters “CLOSING” painted across it he couldn't help the tears that slide down his face from under his mask at the same time that his back hit the jagged brick wall and slide down it to the dirty ground, hair in his grip as he cried over the second family he was losing.  
  
  
  
_Jason Todd_  
  
  
  
Jason ripped the Red helmet from his head, taking in a large gulp of night air. The sweat built up from running making his hair stick to his forehead. Kory and Roy not to far behind. “Arsenal that was seriously a stupid move! A explosion arrow in a already condemned building? Really man?” Roy shrugged his shoulders, a smug look on his face. “Well the building was going to come down anyway! Might as well have it come down on the bad guys.” Jason shook his head in disbelief as he stuffed the helmet under his arm securely.  
  
“Whatever. Let's get back to the safe house. That left over pizza in the fridge is calling my name.” Jason turned around to head out the alleyway onto the street, Roy and Kory chatting behind him. The streets were dead since it was so late so it was ok to walk on the sidewalk for a bit. The flashing of bright colors on a few TVs in a display window across the street caught his attention, the logo for Haly's circus going across the screen with other words but no matter how hard he squinted Jason couldn't read what it said. “Jay?” He didn't even notice that Roy and Kory has stopped their conversation and were standing behind him but he didn't care. Already crossing the street towards to TV.  
As he got closer his eyes widen behind his domino mask at the words on the screen. “ **Last Gotham show to premier next week. Circus to close permanently** ” His grip on his helmet slackened as it cluttered to the floor with a thud.  
  
  
_“Dick!” a tiny boy with bright blue-green eyes chased after the taller man in a fur collared coat, his smile so big you'd think he was crazy. Jason tried to push through the crowd but there was just to many people pushing and blending together that he lost sight of his older brother. “DICK?” Why did Dick have to insist on going to this stupid circus? The show was long and boring and loud and now everyone was trying to leave at once. He kept pushing forward but he couldn't see goldie anywhere._  
  
_Tears weld up into his eyes slightly at the thought of being ditched here. As he moved forward gloved hands shot out from between the crowd and gripped him under the arms to lift him up onto shoulders. Letting out a yelp, he gripped onto the long black hair, pulling a laughing from Dick. “Dick don't do that!” he scolded at his brother but Dick just laughed, looking up to Jason with sparkling baby blue eyes. “Sorry Jaybird, I couldn't resist. I haven't been back home to the circus since I was your age.” Despite Dick's obvious excitement Jason scowled._  
  
_“I don't wanna be at this stupid Circus anymore Dick.” The minute he said it tho he regretted it, Dick's smile fell and his eyes darkened slightly. “I-I'm sorry Dick.. I didn't mean it.” Even tho he apologized he knew the damage was done. Dick reached up and lowered Jason off his shoulders to the ground “It's ok Jason. Sorry I dragged you here, let's just go home” Blinking he looked up at his brother. Why is Dick so tall already? “Didn't you want to go backstage and see everyone you use to perform with tho?” As Dick shook his head he gripped his shoulder._  
  
_“Nah, I don't wanna force you to do anything more then I already have.” Jason walked off with Dick next to him. He looked back slightly at the brightly colored and lit up tent and knew Dick wanted to go back, he could sense it but Jason had to open his mouth._  
 _The minute they reached the mansion, Jason didn't see Dick or even Nightwing for the rest of the night. He was going to make it up to Dick, he promised to himself._  
  
  
“Dick...” The name left his lips in a whisper before he noticed. A hand clamped onto his shoulder making him jump out of the memory. “Yo Jaybird are you ok?” Roy asked as he spun around, Roy and Kory having a concerned look on their faces, Kory even holding his helmet that fell to the ground. “I have to get home to Gotham. Now.”  
  
That circus was Dick's life, he couldn't be taking to it closing to well. Roy's facial expression turned from worried to confused. “Uhh Gotham? The one place you've been avoiding for almost a year, Why?” Jason let out a sigh and walked over to take his helmet from Kory. “I need to see Dick... Something's happened and it's best he's not alone”  
  
Jason took off towards the safe house, his friends shouting his name behind him. If he got to his bike back at the warehouse and breaking every speed limit then he may be able to reach Gotham in 1 hour. As he ran he clicked on his comms to the one channel that was a secret besides to one person. “Jason to Tim.... Tim I need you to get the Demon brat and meet me in my Gotham safe house.  
  
Dick is going to need us, Haly's Circus is closing. I'll explain more about it later.” He shut off comms before Tim even could breath a reply and rounded the corner into the alleyway. His bike right where he left it as he jumped on. He died before he could make up that circus incident to Dick when he was 13, it's time he fulfilled that promise he made.  
  
  
  
_Timothy Drake_  
  
  
  
  
Tim let out a sigh as he threw his body onto the couch in the Titan's tower living room. His body aching so bad he didn't even bother to take off his costume. Taking down a whole gang of gun smuggling drug lords was a pain in the ass. Kid flash slumped down next to him in the same manner letting out a tiny laugh. “Dude we need a vacation. Preferably one where there is no crime rate.” Tim let out a laugh despite his hurting ribs. “A Vacation? We'll be lucky to get some sleep tonight let alone a Vacation.”  
  
With a shake of his ginger head Kid Flash replied but Tim didn't hear it as much as he saw his lips move cause at that moment the comm in his ear decided to click on, the channel number that his comm announced making his heart race. “ _Jason to Tim_ ” The sound of his second older brothers voice made him freeze.  
  
He hasn't heard from Jason in about half a year, the man always keeping to himself and the outlaws being impossible to track. Tim knows, he's tried. It has to be bad if Jason is using this line to contact him after so long. “ _Tim I need you to get the Demon brat and meet me in my Gotham safe house. Dick is going to need us, Haly's Circus is closing. I'll explain more about it later._ ”  
  
Tim shot off the couch at this, his fingers shooting up to press the comms button “JA--” The comm clicked, signaling that Jason turned his off. Despite knowing this he yelled anyway “Jason? JASON? DAMN IT JASON!” He turned around to see Kid Flash looking up at him confused and about to ask what is going on but he didn't have time, walking away in a quick haze down the hallway to the jets.  
Haly's Circus was closing? This was bad. He knew how much that place means to Dick. He remembers very clearly the time Dick took him to that place...  
  
  
_It was very loud and lights flashing into his eyes as they moved around the inside of the tent he was currently sitting in. He's never been to the circus before but Dick insisted on bring him, getting him away from patrol for at least one night and just being a regular kid. Tim smiled widely as the ringmaster announced the acrobat act that was walking out from behind the curtain onto the main floor. Their costumes colorful and full of glittering sewn on applicants._  
  
_The acrobats were his favorite part now after watching Dick train and fight as Nightwing all the time, Free falling off buildings like it was nothing. He watched in fascination as the performers got to work, jumping off the high wire and doing tricks in the air, jumping from rope to rope as if they were actually flying. Tim turned his head to look up at Dick, his smile was bright but sad. His blue eyes even a little bit shiny._  
  
_“Dick.. Do you miss it?” Dick's head snapped down to Tim almost as if he forgot the kid was there, to absorbed into the show. “All the time Timmy.” Tim studied his older brother. He looked so sad but so happy at the same time, Tim didn't understand it. On the car ride here Dick wouldn't shut up about how much this place was home but he hasn't been back in years. “Dick why haven't you visited the circus more? Isn't it your home?” Dick's hand came up to wipe at one of his eyes and he put his arm around Tim's small shoulders as he looked out onto the main floor, watching the show._  
  
_“The last time I came here was with Jason..” Tim instantly stiffened at the use of Jason's name. It was a subject Dick forbid to ever be spoken about ever since the former Robin passed away. “I guess I was to upset and didn't want to remember it but I need to move on... I wanted you to see, as my brother, to see my home just as I wanted Jason to.”_  
  
_His gloved hand squeezed Tim's shoulder as Tim nodded and turned back to the show. He watched the acrobats finish up the rest of their performance in silence. “Hey dick? The Circus is pretty cool.” Tim didn't need to look over to his older brother to know that he was smiling brightly again. All traces of sadness gone from his face._  
  
  
  
Tim shook his head out of the memory as he got into one of the transportation vehicles in the Titan's garage. He punched in Gotham's location into the autopilot. The vehicle starting up without his help as he buckled in. As he took off Tim flashed up the hologram screens before him, pressing in a code to channel him into the one comm link he needed right now while his other hand swiped across screens to find the tracking of a certain older brother.  
  
“ _What do you need Drake? This better be important. I am in the middle of a very annoying chase and I swear.. Blah blah blah_ ” Damian's stern but slightly breathless voice came through the speakers in the vehicle. Tim has to hold back his instant anger at the brat, not paying attention to the threats he was spewing before replying.  
  
“Jason contacted me.” The other end was so silent for a minute there Tim thought he may of hung up but then came that same slightly breathless but less stern and more worried tone. Even if Damian would never admit it. “ _What happened to Todd? Is he ok?_ ” Tim smiled slightly at the concern. “Jason is fine but he's headed to Gotham now. Haly's Circus is closing. He wants to meet us at his safe house then go find Dick.” There was only a seconds pause. “ _I'll be there in 5 minutes. Track down Nightwing._ ” The comm cut off and the screen faded away.  
Tim didn't even hesitate as he typed in Jason's last known safe house location, flicking a different screen in front of him. The bright blue glowing dot indicating Nightwing hasn't moved from the Alleyway between 5th and Gotham Avenue for 15 minutes. “We'll be there soon Dick...”  
  
  
  
_Damian Wayne_  
  
  
  
  
The flash of a yellow cape was all that was seen in the dark before it disappeared. Damian shooting off his grappling hook to swing from one roof top to another. He was currently heading back to the Batcave after stumbling upon and stopping a robbery in progress then losing the informant he was now currently needing to track. As he was running across his 6 th rooftop and about halfway home his comm clicked on, the channel number announcement making him more annoyed already  
  
“What do you need Drake? This better be important. I am in the middle of a very annoying chase and I swear if this is one of your stupid informant leaks on the case I am currently working I will make you life--” Damian didn't even finish that threat as Tim talked over him, cutting him off with a “ _Jason contacted me._ ”  
  
Damian skipped to a stop, sliding across the rooftop's ground. His eyes wide under the mask as his heart beated faster without his permission. His second older brother hadn't been heard from in awhile and Damian would drink acid before admit he might have been a bit worried about the rouge bat after disappearing off the radar with his Outlaws. Damian took in a big breath to control his breathing from running before replying “What happened to Todd? Is he ok?” Tim took 1.3 seconds longer to reply then Damian appreciated. Jason would only contact them if he was in trouble or hurt badly and needed help.  
  
“ _Jason is fine but he's headed to Gotham now. Haly's Circus is closing. He wants to meet us at his safe house then go find Dick._ ” All Damian heard was Haly's Circus closing and Find Dick before he sprung into action. Shooting his line out in the opposite direction to where he knew Jason wanted to meet. “I'll be there in 5 minutes. Track down Nightwing.”  
  
He didn't wait before clicking the comm link off. Guilt filling his chest as he swung around. Dick had been trying so hard to get him to go to that Circus but Damian was a stubborn brat and shot down his oldest brother every time.  
  
  
  
_“Hey Dami!” Dick cheerfully said as he wrapped blue and black cladded arms around the current littlest Robin sitting in the chair in front of the bat computer. Damian let out a huff of annoyed air at the hug but let Grayson do as he pleased. The better to get it over with sooner then fight it. “What do you need Grayson?” Before he could finish typing what he needed into the case file, the chair was spun around and he was face to face with a maskless sparkly eyed Nightwing._  
  
_“Let's go to the Circus. Haly's Circus is in town next week!” Damian scowled at his brothers over excited tone. Dick had been bugging him nonstop to go to this stupid circus. “Grayson I do not have time to go to such childish events. Besides the Circus is boring and stupid. If I want to watch people flip off high places I'll watch you do it while I patrol and do something useful instead of sit in a stuff up tent for 3 hours.” The smile instantly fell off Dick's face and Damian was beginning to think his choice of rejection and words were a little to harsh._  
  
_“Oh. Ok Damian. Sorry I kept bugging you, your right. Ill show you some of my circus tricks later ok?” He stood up off his knees and smiled down at him before leaving. Damian looked after his older brother whose shoulders were slumped so low. He knew that smile was fake and he wouldn't see Nightwing at all later tonight. A deep sigh to his left didn't even phase him as he sensed his Father walk up the minute Dick smiled and left. “Damian that was harsh. That Circus is where Dick grew up.” Damian's head shot up at his Father's words._  
  
_“Wait, That's the Circus? I didn't know the name of the Circus he was from.” His Father nodded his head at his son. “The last person to tell Dick the circus was stupid was Jason but he still went. He felt so bad and promised to make it up to Dick but never got a chance... Tim went as well with him to the Circus. Don't make that mistake Damian, go the Circus with your brother. It means more to him then you will understand, he just wants to share his home with his brothers” he paused before replying “Don't worry Father, i'll make it up to Grayson”_  
  
  
  
As Damian landed on Jason's safe houses rooftop he looked down at his scuffed up boots. That happened last week and he hasn't seen Grayson since. Guilt flooded him now as the memory replayed over and over. Grayson just wanted to share something precious of his with Damian and he ruined it, now that something precious was being taken from his brother. “Hurry up Jason.. Tim.. We need to find him” He said out loud to no one but himself as he waited.  
  
  
  


Dick didn't know how long he sat there curled up in the alleyway staring at the faded poster advertising Haly's Circus show next week in Gotham. The bright red “CLOSING” words printed across forever burnt into his mind. His home was closing. The place he was born and raised in was disappearing forever. The people that took him in the minute his mother showed his infant self off in her arms inside that tent all being ripped apart and forced to find jobs elsewhere.  
  
He thought his tears would of dried up long ago but they just kept coming, leaking out from under his mask that he didn't even bother to remove. He was so lost in thought that he didn't hear the 3 pairs of foot falls heading towards him in the alley. “Dick..?” There was no mistaking that voice, it ripped him from his thoughts and made his head shoot up so fast he got dizzy for a second. “Jason.. what are you doing here?” He hasn't seen his third youngest brother in he guesses a year, when Jason disappeared with the Outlaws he couldn't stop worrying he'd never see him again.  
  
As Jason got closer he knelt down onto his knees, Dick saw that Damian and Tim were right behind him surprisingly. Gloved handed reached up to both sides of his face, wiping the tear tracks up as thumps lifted under his mask and moved it up off his flesh. Dick looked up at his brothers confused. Why are all of them here? Did something happen? Jason wouldn't come back for just no reason and Damian definitely wouldn't be in the same breathing space as Tim. “What's wrong guys? Why are you all here?”  
  
The small smile that appeared on Jason's face made Dick's voice catch in his throat. “Hey Golden boy. Long time no see. Wanna go to the Circus? I heard it's in town” Dick couldn't help the laugh he let out even though more tears spilled from his eyes at the thought of his home. “What? Jay you think the Circus is stupid.” Jason shook his head and helped Dick stand up, wiping the last of his tears away as they did. “Nah man, I was a stupid kid back then. I didn't mean it Dick. Besides I heard Damian hasn't been and if me and Tim had to go its only fair he does.”  
  
Dick turned shocked eyes to Damian, who shuffled nervously under his oldest brothers gaze before bolting off wrapping Dick is the tightest hug he could. “I apologize Grayson. I take back what I said last week. I'd love to go to the Circus.. See your home.. with all of us as a family.” Dick wrapped his arms back around Damian with a small smile as he saw Tim nodded his agreement. His brothers, his family that is rarely ever together at once is standing before him wanting to go to the Circus one last time, for him.  
  
His eyes well up with more tears but this time not cause of sadness. “I think.. Yeah, I think I'd love that you guys.” Damian let go as Tim grabbed at his hand with a smile. “Then lets get going!” Dick chuckled as Tim started to drag him off, a chuckling Jason and Damian following right besides them. “You may be losing one of your homes Dickiebird but never forget that you'll always have a home with us, no matter what.” At Jason's words Dick stopped and tugged each of his brothers into a group hug. “Thank you guys... Thanks for being here and Thank you for going with me to say goodbye.”  
  
Damian clutched Dick's suit just a little tighter “We'd never let you go alone Grayson..” He felt Tim nod against his arm as Jason just pulled them in closer. Dick basked in this moment for a minute longer before pulling back. Putting the first genuine bright smile on his face all night “So who's ready to go to the Circus?!” 

 


End file.
